Determination of proper lie angles for fitting golf clubs is an important, painstaking process, and one that golfers do not often fully appreciate. There is no known way to mechanize club fitting, especially the determination of the lie angle for a given golfer.
One of the more important aspects considered in properly fitting a golfer with clubs is establishing a consistent lie angle for the clubs. The lie angle is the angle between the club shaft centerline and a line tangent to the sole of the club head at the face centerline. It is important for a golfer to have clubs with consistent lie angles, from drivers to wedges.
The reason consistent lie angles are important is that the ball when struck with the club head positioned at the proper lie angle will fly along a straight path, substantially perpendicular to the club face. A club head swung by a right handed golfer and that is tipped with the toe down is considered to be "flat". A ball struck with the club head in this orientation will typically fly to the right of the target. Conversely, a club head tipped with the heel down is considered to be too upright and the ball will fly to the left of the target.
It is of interest to the fitting professional to make the golfer being fitted aware of the importance in obtaining proper lie angles for the clubs being fitted, so there will be consistency and no need for the golfer to compensate from one club to another.
Given a consistent swing and varying only the lie angle, it has been shown that a four iron will produce a ball flight angle that will leave the ball 7 feet to one side of a target at 100 yards, if the club head is merely four degrees flat or too upright. It is surprising to many golfers that the ball flight angle will increase with the loft of the club being used. So a 9 iron hit with the club head four degrees flat or too upright will result in the ball landing 22 feet to either side of the target at 100 yards. This is a difficult concept to grasp, due to the compound angles of the club faces.
A need has therefor existed for an instructional device that will demonstrate the differences in ball flight angle resulting from improper lie angles, and the exaggeration of the ball flight angle with increasing club face loft.
In the past, an elongated rod with a magnet at one end has been used for attachment to club faces. The magnet includes a flat surface perpendicular to the rod so, when attached to a club face, the rod will indicate the ball flight angle. While this works well with individual clubs, there still remains a need to visually demonstrate the difference improper lie angles make with clubs of differing lofts.
The present lie angle demonstration device fills this need by combining a low loft and a high loft club face in a single unit that, when tipped flat or too upright, will allow direct comparison of probable resulting ball flight angles.